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Are people able to live without the AC during the spring and summer time? I know my family rarely runs the AC, but what about yours? My house has always used fans that draw in cool air during the night, and for most of the day it is kept cool. If the upstairs isnt cool enough, everyone heads down to the basement. This way we dont have to run the AC the whole day. Do people still do this, or is this an old way of thinking?
I’m a little bit fanatical about managing the thermodynamics of our house, but when it gets above about 76 on the main floor, I’m happy to pay for ac in exchange for being able to use our home.
As soon as the outdoor temperature dips, I get all of the windows open and get as much heat out of the house as possible.
During the day, I turn off or down everything that generates heat, only run cold water, etc.
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My family is very good at managing the coolness in the house. We have exhaust fans on one side, and inlet fans on the other. Brings all the cool air throughout the house during the night and early morning. Usually in the afternoon the house keeps cool enough to manage. Dont get me wrong, we do use AC when it is too humid or hot.
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Eventually, I want to get a heat pump AC system, but our house was not designed by someone who cared about this.
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A lot of houses arent designed for removing heat anymore. They are designed with AC being in use all the time.
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I like it warm, around 30C (86F) is comfortable for me, it feels like a normal country. My house usually doesn't go above that. My outbuilding often does, and when it's on the hottish side I turn on the AC.
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I like the house to be warmer, too. I dont like having the AC on to make it chilly. That is what the winter is for.
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We don’t use our AC very often. We have a lot of tree cover around our home so it doesn’t get too hot but just the hot and humid weeks of the summer we will use it.
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Our house was like that before, but one of the big maple trees got removed because of the storm. Let me tell you, that tree made a big difference in shade and sunlight. Its night our yard gets more sunlight, but we lost a lot of shade, too!
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Definitely helps a lot.
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I have always wanted to try swamp coolers. I dont know if it is really possible to use in the house, though. I have heard that people used to wet thin sheets and put them over the windows. The air would cool before entering the house.
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Wouldn’t a wet sheet just restrict air from flowing in?
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It has to be thin, so that it can hold a little moisture and let air through.
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